Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Well the site has already been zoned commercial.  So rather their having it stand empty, it would be best to find a suitable mixed use redevelopment plan.  Eventually, some one will come along to redevelop it and it would be better to be able to choose the best and safest (for the aquifer) use.  Otherwise, you could end up with a truck stop or some less desirable but legally permitted use on the property.

Walmart is still waiting in the wings.

I was shopping the day before Christmas Eve.  Rotterdam Square mall was nearly empty.  I parked very close to the food court entrance.  There was no doubt from the lack of inventory and the condition of the store that it was planned for closing.

The demise of the shopping experience at Rotterdam Square Mall can be best explained by considering the offerings of retailers that remain among the vacant spaces and by viewing the (very few) customers who remain.  The corner store in the food court now sells the glass pipes that are "for tobacco use only".  

Quoted from Libertarian4life

Walmart is still waiting in the wings.

You are correct.  Wal-Mart would certainly be one of the companies looking at the possibility of buying the Macy's site and developing a store there.  And it is no secret that Wal-Mart and Shop Rite have both expressed an interest in opening a store in that vicinity.

There are a number of potential scenarios to redevelop the Rotterdam Square Mall site -- and I purposely use the word redevelop.  It is no longer about filling the empty storefronts inside the mall.  The old Rotterdam Square Mall is dead - Come up with a new concept - a new mixed use plan - and a new name and marketing strategy for the property.  

how about a PARK.....with some hot dog/taco  vender carts

wasn't the little league still waiting....or is that 'resolved' and everyone paid off?

Rotterdam central school STEM campus....

GE next door and SCCC up the bike path..........

Great WalMart, KMART and Sears. Tell us again about the DEM renaissance. How about moving the Dollar Store over there? Shoppers will go to Colonie Center and spend more
in Albany County or Kohl's in Montgomery County. This just in! They are knocking down the empty Rotterdam mall with no shoppers not RSM but Curry Road Shopping Center.
Another great place for a park/bike path, governmental gin mill and new curbs. Anything but a tax generating, job creating, business.

GAP going to Mohawk Commons.  GAP must have a bad business model.  

The Rotterdam Square GAP wasn't a full-service GAP store anyway.

the internet is coming....the internet is coming.....oh...wait a minute......where am I?.................................................

WAITING FOR MY AMAZON DELIVERY.....

Quoted from senders

the internet is coming....the internet is coming.....oh...wait a minute......where am I?.................................................

WAITING FOR MY AMAZON DELIVERY.....

Your package will be delivered by an Amazon drone.

There are around 1,200 enclosed malls left in the country, but I heard it was a lower number on one of the television news shows. Many are expected to close in the next couple of years. "A" malls, like Colonie Center, which serve a more affluent base, are doing okay, but Rotterdam Square was never meant to be an "A" mall, and from what I've read all the B and C malls are struggling. One of the reasons is there are just too, too many of the same damn stores all over the place, this area has overbuilt retail. Look at the empty space in the Shop-Rite plaza. Another factor in Rotterdam Square in particular is the overall economic health of the area it is built in.
A new Stewart's just opened up at Nott and Balltown. That will be more convenient for some Niskayunans. That area is bustling.

Quoted from Madam X

There are around 1,200 enclosed malls left in the country, but I heard it was a lower number on one of the television news shows. Many are expected to close in the next couple of years. "A" malls, like Colonie Center, which serve a more affluent base, are doing okay, but Rotterdam Square was never meant to be an "A" mall, and from what I've read all the B and C malls are struggling. One of the reasons is there are just too, too many of the same damn stores all over the place, this area has overbuilt retail. Look at the empty space in the Shop-Rite plaza. Another factor in Rotterdam Square in particular is the overall economic health of the area it is built in.
A new Stewart's just opened up at Nott and Balltown. That will be more convenient for some Niskayunans. That area is bustling.

I am glad that you finally agree with me that, based on national trends, Rotterdam Square Mall is obsolete.  The only answer is to reinvent, redevelop and remarket the site.  Ideally, this would be a mixed-use property with a hotel, restaurant(s), office, a supermarket and some other retail.

There is less empty space at the old "St. Jame's Square" now that Shop-Rite Has moved in.

The new Stewart's on Balltown and Nott is a great location -- however - I think they "shoe-horned" it in there and don't have enough parking spaces for the volume of business.  

if it is to redevelop with Walmart...then crime will increase more than it is right now....between RSM and Walmart on Altamont Ave.....the calls

for shop lifting and crime are numerous....and not frequent....

build another Senior Housing....that's what is needed.....there are not enough apts for seniors.....the ones  being built they have building are too expensive

and who can afford them....180 on old Kmart site are not enough...

NO WALMART....

I never said anything about Rotterdam Square being obsolete based on trends. If that site can't be expanded to an A mall, and the market does not support a smaller mall, it certainly  isn't going to support mixed use crap, and anyway, if a proposed use is bad for the aquifer, it wouldn't be legally permitted for that site, now would it?